Collaborating closely with Games Workshop, the Writing Team developed the overall backstory for the game and we work continuously to refine that backstory and strengthen the presence of the Warhammer license within it. We still receive a lot of feedback both internally and from the folks at GW that we're constantly using to improve upon the material that we've got.
We also review materials produced by our Quest Developers and World Team to make sure that the Warhammer setting is properly represented in all facets of the game's content. In addition to that, we do a lot of other odd jobs here and there, such as assisting with the writing of internal proposals and design documents.
What is your background? Where did you go to college and what did you study. Has it helped you with this job?
I studied writing at George Mason University, but I probably started preparing for this particular job
when I was about ten years old. It was at that age that I discovered three things that would come to have a great
influence on my life; fantasy literature, role-playing games, and computers. From that point on, my biggest hobbies
were playing games, designing games (of the pen-and-paper variety), and writing for and about games. I'm happy to
say that to this day, they still are.
What other titles have you worked on in the past? In what capacity?
I was a Content Developer on Dark Age of Camelot. As a member of the Quest team, I contributed mainly to
the Catacombs and Darkness Rising expansions; for the latter I also wrote the overall backstory and
designed the Champion Quest arc. I had a great time working on DAoC, and I can't say enough good things
about the talented, hard-working developers on that team.
What was your "welcome to the game industry" moment when it hit you that you were really making games for a living?
Oh gosh... I suppose it would have to be just a few days after the launch of the Catacombs expansion for Dark Age of
Camelot.
I was at home perusing some forums where players were sharing their reactions to the expansion, and one fellow in
particular
wrote a long post about a quest he had really enjoyed. It was a quest that I'd written, and it was only then that it
really
sank in for me that I'd contributed to a game that was out there on store shelves, and that players were reviewing it and
reacting to it. I had to pinch myself, because it's the kind of thing that, up until 2001 when I came to Mythic, I
thought
would only ever be a pipe dream. Every day since has been just amazing! Working on games is every bit as great as I
thought
it would be.
What excites you about the Warhammer property? What makes it perfect for an MMO?
You'd get a much shorter response asking what doesn't excite me about it. The folks at Games Workshop have spent more
than twenty years developing, exploring and visualizing this wonderful, unique fantasy realm and every minute of it shows.
I particularly like the grim, ironic and often referential sense of humor you find throughout the writings in the army
books and in the design of the characters. The art is also superb – I could gawk at it for hours if I didn't have
deadlines.
Warhammer just begs to be brought to life as an MMO, and I'm incredibly pleased that Mythic will have that
opportunity.
Do you collect Warhammer figures? What army do you play?
Absolutely! I'm in the process of painting up a Bretonnian army, because the color and pageantry of the models really
appeal to me. I'm also a big fan of the Arthurian legends – I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but I actually
own four different copies of Le Morte D'Arthur - so naturally, I had to collect Bretonnians. I'm eyeing the
Lizardmen
next, or maybe the High Elves.
What are your hopes/goals for the game?
I hope that when the game launches, both the folks at Games Workshop and the many loyal fans of the Warhammer
miniatures game who check it out will collectively agree that it's not only a great game, but also a game that
epitomizes all of the things that make Warhammer cool, fun and entertaining.
I'd also love to see the story for WAR live on in some other medium, such as a novel, an army book for the tabletop game or maybe even some cool miniatures based on some of the characters we created for the game. It might be wishful thinking, but that would be really awesome!
What are your key influences when making the game? Anything besides Warhammer?
I've always believed that good storytelling can be found in many mediums, and I've probably been influenced, consciously
or
otherwise, by numerous films, novels, comic books and other games. Heck, even some television commercials have
well-rounded
stories these days! There are lessons that can be taken from all of these about how to create and present a compelling
story.
What is the biggest problem with current MMOs you hope to fix with WAR?
Clearly, the biggest problem with current MMOs is that none of them are set in the Warhammer world! Seriously,
though,
while not necessarily a problem, I do think the MMO space is ready to see an evolution in the concept of epic-scale
player-versus-player combat, and I believe that WAR is the answer.
What are your favorite video/computer games of all time? What games are you playing right now? What game should the
reader be playing if he's not?
Any list of my favorite video games would have to include System Shock 2 and the first Deus Ex game, as well
as Final
Fantasy VII. I'll always have a special place in my heart for Asheron's Call, which was my first MMO, and for
Dark Age of Camelot, which I worked on and still actively play. Right now I'm juggling several games. In addition
to DAoC, I'm enjoying Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Battlefield 2,
Madden 2006 and
The Movies. There really are far too many good games out there right now. It makes me wish I didn't need sleep!
As for a game that the reader should check out, any fan of the adventure game genre should get a copy of Funcom's The Longest Journey. It really is one of the best games ever made in that category.
What music are you listening to right now?
I'm listening to a medley of tracks from the various Final Fantasy games. Let me just say, Nobuo Uematsu deserves a
place on any music lover's shelf. Video game music is tragically underappreciated, and I love nothing more than to
play some of it for folks who don't know what it is, and when they say "That's gorgeous! What movie is that from?" I
answer with a smirk that it's from a video game, and watch their mouths hang open. A lot of people don't seem to
realize just how far we've come from the bleeps and bloops of Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
Is there a recent movie you've seen or book/comic you read that you'd recommend to others?
I recently re-read Alan Moore's Watchmen, and I still consider it to be probably the finest piece of literature
written within, and about, the superhero genre. I also just finished William King's Trollslayer novel and
I thought it was outstanding. Next up, I've got my hands on a copy of Slaves to Darkness, a great Warhammer
supplement published in the late 80s that's considered one of the definitive pieces of writing on the subject of Chaos.
I'm hoping I can finish it and still hang on to my sanity!
As for movies, there have been so many good sci-fi and fantasy films lately, I think fans of the genre will look back on this period in time as a sort of golden age. We're starting to see that on television, as well. I'm a huge fan of the new Battlestar Galactica series, for example. Hopefully, high quality shows like that, as well as films such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will boost mainstream acceptance of fantasy and science-fiction as something more than a niche that produces effects-laden summer blockbusters with campy scripts.
